When great art manages to enter into a meaningful dialogue with the territory that hosts it, wonderful syntheses can occur—like the one affectionately known as the “Ovo” by Mirella Bentivoglio, which seems to have always belonged in the very place where the artist imagined and built it. Just a few meters from the Porta di Sant’Ubaldo, at a key point along the route of the Ceri race—where the city ends and the second “Buchetto” begins (the narrow initial stretch of road leading to the Basilica of Sant’Ubaldo)—this monumental work represents, in the artist’s intent, “The Stoned Adulteress” and is the first public feminist sculpture in Italy.

Bentivoglio created it in 1976 for the Gubbio Biennale of Art, that year dedicated to metal, ceramics, and other materials, describing it as “a peace agreement between man and woman in the name of equality.”

The people of Gubbio embraced the work to such a degree that, following its collapse in 2004, they strongly desired its restoration and celebrated its return with a highly attended ceremony in 2022.

The “Ovo” stands as a reminder that when the artist listens deeply and sincerely to the place, they are able to carry out “a mimetic and symbolic operation, making the work part of the urban landscape—almost a necessity.” (Art Tribune)